Thursday, November 8, 2012

Tubes: Round 2

I should have known that I would have a child with ear issues. As a little girl, I had chronic ear infections. My mom tells me that I had so many ear infections that the doctor said that if I had one more, that I was going to have to get tubes. The funny thing is I didn't have another one until I was about 27! At that point...I wasn't getting tubes. But it makes sense that at least one of my three children would have issues like I did. Unfortunately, Luke's ear infections didn't stop with the threat of tubes. I wasn't thrilled about the thought of my baby having surgery, especially at the age of 22 months, but I was happy with the thought of some relief for him. (And me!) You can read about Luke's first round of tubes here.

Thankfully, Luke's first set of tubes lasted two and a half years! We never anticipate that they would last that long! However, we went to the doctor regularly to have them checked and to have hearing tests to make sure everything looked good and was in good working order. And they were. Up until mid-September. I took Luke in for his normal check up and hearing test. While sitting in the room with him for his hearing test, I knew things weren't going great. I could see the lady administering the hearing test looking at Luke for a response and he wasn't giving her one. After the test, she informed me that he didn't do so hot, that there could be some fluid in there making him not hear so well. After talking to the doctor, he confirmed that Luke failed his hearing test and had fluid in both ears and that one of the tubes was completely non-functional. It then made sense why Luke wouldn't let me touch his ears and why he was always talking so loud. Instead of waiting 3 months to go back, the doctor wanted to see him back in 6 weeks. I knew something was definitely going to have to happen.

In the next 6 weeks, Luke ended up losing one of his tubes. That was fine since 1. it was the non-functional one. And 2. he had an appointment in a few days. When we went to see the doctor after 6 weeks, he discovered that the remaining tube was no longer functional. It was time to remove the one and put in a new set. Great...

Jon and I didn't make a big deal to Luke about having surgery. We just told him we were going to see Dr. Sawyer to get some new tubes in his ears. I'm not sure what Luke thought. He was fine up until the point that we had to go into a room with a bed and he had to change into a special gown. Then, to make matters worse, he had to take medicine (goofy juice (:)! This boy does NOT like to take medicine!

He did, finally, chill out. It helped that Disney Junior was on!

He even let us put him on the bed to be rolled away to surgery without a single tear!I wonder how I could get some of that "goofy juice" at my house!

Luke did a great job! Surgery went well. Dr. Sawyer also cauterized some spots in Luke's nose so that he wouldn't get bloody noses like he has been. It took a long time for Luke to wake up, but once he did he was ready to go! No dilly-dallying for this boy!

Luke has some super special friends that brought surprises over!

Miss Emily brought over an Angry Birds game. Luke loves to play on her phone, plus she has little brothers, so she knew Luke would love it.

And he did!

Miss Heather came over later that night to bring Luke some awesome Corvette Hotwheels!

She may have stolen a smooch or two too! :)

I was looking forward to a day of Luke being sleepy and chilled out. HA! That didn't happen! Once he woke up at the hospital he was raring to go! He didn't even take a nap that day! That's ok, I'm just happy that everything went well and that he was able to bounce back without any issues. I am so thankful that the Lord has given people the knowledge to make things to make life better. Ear infections are NO fun! Now we are just praying that the tubes work well and for a long time!

Life is busy with three busy kiddos! This is the best, most fun way to share our lives with family and friends. I am, by NO means, a writer! I just enjoy sharing the funny, sad, exciting, mundane, crazy things that go on in our family. :)